


cosmic perspective

by AliuIce0814



Series: cough syrup [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anxiety Issues, Gen, Panic Attack, Tumblr Prompt, bruce is the best lab partner ever, concept of a multiverse, handwavy knowledge of science, tony is almost as awkward as bruce, use of science as a security blanket
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-11
Updated: 2013-08-11
Packaged: 2017-12-23 04:20:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/921919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliuIce0814/pseuds/AliuIce0814
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Prompt: Bruce calming Tony down from an anxiety attack he's having about NY Pretty please??"</p><p>For once, Tony had no idea what the trigger was. One second, he was in the lab, happily designing an electromagnetic bomb arrow for Legolas, and the next...well, Bruce came to his rescue with Zen breathing and string theory. Sort of.</p><p>A part of the "cough syrup" universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	cosmic perspective

**Author's Note:**

> Unbetaed, and I know little to nothing about science. Trigger warning for panic attacks.

            For once, Tony had no fucking idea what the trigger was. One second, he was in the lab, happily designing an electromagnetic bomb arrow for Legolas, and the next—well, everything got shot to hell. His heart stuttered in his chest and echoed in his ears. His skin felt like it was on fire. The arrow slipped out of his sweaty hands and clattered onto the desk.

            “Tony?”

            Shit, somebody was talking, but Tony couldn’t tell who. He couldn’t fucking breathe, couldn’t fucking think. The scar where his arc reactor used to be burned. He clutched at his chest, hand spasming, as he stumbled out of his chair. He couldn’t—suit wasn’t space-capable—fuck—he was burning, choking—

            “Tony, hey, Tony. Tony!”

            Fingers brushed Tony’s wrists. Tony jerked away, sheltering his head with his arms as he slid to the ground. Couldn’t breathe, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t fucking breathe—going to get himself killed, fuck no, he didn’t want to die, he wanted to finish the Tower with Pepper and design Rhodey’s next suit and this was not okay.

            “Tony. Tony.” The fingers found Tony’s wrist again. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep the world from spinning. “Tony, it’s Bruce Banner. We’re in R&D—in Candyland. You were designing arrows for Hawkeye and trying to convince me to take Asimov’s collected works to Jakarta when I go. You’re in the Tower.”

            Tony’s focus came back a little, enough that he recognized the voice. He nearly sobbed with relief. “Bruce—” He tried to say more, but he couldn’t get enough air in to force the words out. He clutched at Bruce’s hands instead.

            Tony couldn’t stop shaking.

            Something touched Tony’s forehead. Tony flinched and opened his eyes to find that Bruce had tipped their heads together. Their noses nearly brushed. Bruce was breathing slowly, evenly, with the patience of a fucking monk. Tony shuddered and coughed and somehow found himself breathing with Bruce. Every inhale made his ribs creak. His lungs burned. Whenever Tony’s breath came in a harsh gasp, Bruce ran his thumb over the inside of Tony’s wrist.

            It shouldn’t have worked, all that Zen Buddhist meditative breathing bullshit. It had never worked for Tony before. Action helped him. A swift kick to the ass helped him.

            Apparently, Bruce Banner’s brand of calm helped him, too.

            By the time Tony breathed normally again, his chest ached dully, and his legs cramped from being crouched on the tile for so long. He needed to get up and back to work. He was being ridiculous, the kind of ridiculous that would make Pepper sleep on the couch and Rhodey talk about VA clinics and Capsicle give him worried, disapproving looks at the next meeting. When Tony tried to stand, though, his knees gave out. Bruce caught him by his elbows and lowered him to the floor again. “Give yourself a minute.”

            “Think I’ve already had more than a minute.” Tony’s arms shook. He’d sweated through his shirt; it clung to his skin. “But thanks for the support, Dr. Banner. Really appreciate it. Just need to, um, get back to work, y’know, finish Barton’s arrows before he gets himself b-blown up on his next mission to Timbuktu or wherever—”

            “Slow down. Clint’s not leaving until Thursday. You have plenty of time to finish.” Tony didn’t have to look at Bruce to know that his lab partner was frowning at him. Great. Fan-fucking-tastic. More disapproval. “Tony—”

            “I’m fine!” Tony shoved Bruce’s arms away and dragged himself to his feet. He rubbed his eyes with his palms. He could just sense Banner’s flinch, the way he kept his head down as he stood, and damn, didn’t that just make guilt well up in Tony’s stomach? He didn’t have time for this shit. “Just give me a minute. Jesus.”

            Whatever Tony was expecting, it wasn’t for Bruce to say, “No.” When Tony uncovered his eyes, Bruce met his gaze steadily, even if he did a shuffling step to the side. “You’ve never left me when I’ve panicked or…Hulked out.” Bruce grimaced but continued, “It’s a two-way street, Tony. I don’t have to hover if it makes you nervous, but there’s no way I’m leaving. And don’t lie to me and say you’re fine. Give me a little credit. I know you better than that.”

            For once, it was Tony who looked away first instead of Bruce. He stared at the lab, all glass walls and pristine equipment. No wormholes. No extraterrestrials, not even Thor. Just the lab and Bruce, who was probably still watching Tony with the steadiest gaze Tony had ever seen him use. Tony picked up Clint’s electromagnetic arrow and turned it over in his hands. “What were you reading, Green Bean? Y’know, before….”

            “It’s about the universe. Actually, that’s an oversimplification. It’s about the concept of a multiverse.” Tony could hear the click-click of Bruce taking off his glasses. “When the Higgs boson was discovered, it opened a—a Pandora’s box. We’re discovering more and more situations that Einstein’s theories just can’t explain.”

            “So that means there’s a multiverse?”

            “That’s one hypothesis. String theorists definitely approve. I’m not so sure.”

            Tony looked back at Bruce, studying the curve of his shoulders, the way he pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked like he should have been in front of a class of snot-nosed physics majors, or better, talking hypotheses by the bar at a scientific conference in Bern. “Why?”

            “Well, I’m a scientist. I like to be able to simplify things, to explain situations. If physics can’t do that, I tend to question my line of work.” Bruce looked up at Tony, his eyes wide and dark. “But I…we have seen enough seemingly inexplicable things in the past year that I’m starting to think naturalness might not cover everything. Somehow I don’t think Einstein ever had Thor in mind.”

            “Or space whales coming through wormholes?” Damn, Tony hated how his voice shook. Bruce nodded. “So, a multiverse. The multiverse.”

            Bruce shrugged. “Maybe. We’ll see. If that hypothesis proves false, we’ll just test another one. There’s a logical explanation for everything out there. We just have to discover it.”

            “Yeah. Or build it.” Tony tried to smirk. Bruce sighed and rolled his eyes, which seemed to be a good indicator of a return to normalcy. “Listen, I—”

            “Don’t,” Bruce interrupted. When Tony blinked at him, surprised, Bruce reached out and barely touched his shoulder. “Do you know how many years it took me to learn to control my panic attacks? Longer than one, that’s for sure. Even now, sometimes I have help.” Bruce chewed his lip. “You guys told me I had nothing to be ashamed of. That’s not just true for me, you know.”

            Tony almost nodded. He still felt sticky and disgusting, too-warm and shaky, and he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to shy away from Bruce’s touch or pull the guy into the tightest hug imaginable. He didn’t do either one, in the end. He reached up and gripped Bruce’s arm in a gesture that was friendly but also, y’know, not alarmingly clingy. “You figure out that multiverse, Doc. If anybody can do it, it’s you.”

            Which wasn’t what Tony needed to say at all, but if Pepper couldn’t train him to say “thank you” in over a decade of working for him, he sure as hell wasn’t going to learn it now. Bruce ducked his head and smiled at the floor. That was good enough for now.

            That was good enough.

**Author's Note:**

> “It’s about the universe. Actually, that’s an oversimplification. It’s about the concept of a multiverse,” is a direct quote from a HONY interview from June...27th, I believe. The photo's in their archive. It's one of my favorites.


End file.
